After approving 19 school closures in January and 16 colocations in February, the Panel for Education Policy will vote on more than a dozen school utilization changes in March and April. Eleven co-locations plans and six school re-siting proposals, which would affect schools in three boroughs, are up for approval by the PEP

Among the Manhattan schools affected are District 2’s Clinton School for Writers and Artists and District 3’s new PS 452 on the Upper West Side. In a March 5 announcement, that took the school by surprise, the DOE changed its plans to move the Clinton School from its 30-year home in PS 11 to nearby PS 33, and instead move Clinton into the building housing the American Sign Language and Dual Language School, known as PS 47.

The new plan came just three days after Elizabeth Rose of the DOE’s portfolio office met with Clinton parents and told them the school would definitely be moving to PS 33. That proposal drew criticism because it would displace a special education program, PS 138. The latest proposal was submitted just under the wire to conform with a chancellor’s regulation that requires any change in location to be publicized six months before the start of the school year, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Clinton parents. (more…)

In last week’s poll, we asked how the kindergarten admissions process was treating you. Only eight percent of parents are “all set,” while 54 percent share some level of concern. See our recent blog post on the admission process for more information. This week we’d like to know if you’ll be taking part in the school environment survey.

Have you gotten that electric green envelope? The fourth annual NYC School Survey is out, and it can also be filled in online (you’ll need the eight digit code that appears on the bottom right hand corner of your paper survey). This year, all teachers citywide, as well as 6th through 12th grade students at 364 schools, will fill out the survey online, skipping the paper version entirely. The deadline is April 23.

The parent survey responses, along with teacher and 6th-12th grade student surveys responses, count toward 15% of the schools’ grades on the Progress Reports (student performance counts for 25%, and student progress makes up 60% of the total score).

The Learning Environment Surveys are also promoted as a way to provide valuable information to administrators and School Leadership Teams, pointing up places where improvements may be needed in areas such as academic expectations, communication, engagement, safety, and respect.

Among the changes in this year’s survey, the Chancellor’s office informed principals, are an “increased focus on how well schools create opportunities for teacher collaboration, and how well schools prepare students for ‘postsecondary success’.”

There’s also a new advertising campaign — complete with bus shelter posters and Internet ads and radio spots — encouraging participation.

In past years, the survey process and the Progress Reports have aroused some skepticism, and the increased pace in school closings has tensions running high in many buildings. How do you feel about the survey? Will you participate? Has your school encouraged you to fill it out, and if so, have you felt pressured to rate your school favorably? Please take our poll at left, and share your comments below.

The first round of kindergarten applications for the 2010-2011 school year are due today, and already some schools have more applicants than seats available. However, new schools, and rezoning in some districts, may alleviate some of the overcrowding that caused 28 schools to turn 287 kindergarten students away last fall when classes were “capped.”

Parents had until 2 p.m. today to fill out applications. Final counts are not yet tallied, but at least two popular Upper East Side schools, PS 290 and PS 183, report far more applicants than slots available. By Thursday, PS 290 had 190 applications for 100 spots; PS 183 had 180 applicants for 125 spots.

Although most kindergarten classes are capped at 25 students, some accept a few more. Others, especially those with funds earmarked to lower class size, accept fewer. If there are more kindergarten applicants than slots available, a computerized lottery determines who is offered admittance. Schools will notify families of placements on March 22.

Many families hedge their bets by applying to private schools, gifted and talented programs, and unzoned schools, as well as their zoned schools. When some families eventually accept placement in other programs, their zoned slots are assigned to students on a wait list. Last year at this time, many Manhattan schools were flooded with applicants. In the end, only two had to “cap” their kindergarten classes, turning students away: PS 183 and PS 59. (more…)

How will the planned MTA cuts to student MetroCards affect education? That’s the topic of a City Council hearing on Friday, March 13 beginning at 1 p.m. in Council Chambers.

Insideschools student blogger Toni and the NYC Student Union have been actively opposing the cuts; MTA hearings over the past few weeks have attracted crowds of protesters. Prospects for resolving this are slim before the state passes its budget but, to have your voice heard, attend Friday’s meeting at City Hall. Public comment will likely begin after 3 p.m.

See the City Council’s hearing notice below for background information and details:

“New York City public schools serve approximately 1.1 million students, and while some students walk to school, nearly 600,000 are dependent upon subsidized transportation of some kind, with the vast majority of students relying on mass transit in order to travel to and from school. Non-public school students are also eligible for subsidized transportation. Currently, students can obtain subsidized transportation to school in a variety of ways: using a half-fare student Metrocard, using a no-fare student Metrocard, or by means of bus companies contracted through the DOE. (more…)

Parents who want to serve on the Citywide Council on Special Education (CCSE), or the new Citywide Council on English Language Learners (CCELL) now have until March 19 to nominate themselves. The original due date was March 12.

Applications are available online at powertotheparents.org. Paper applications are available through the Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy, or call 212-374-4118.

There is no change in the dates for the citywide “advisory vote ” by parents on April 26-30 and the actual selection by PA and PTA officers on May 11-12 . Successful candidates will be announced May 31.

The special ed council is being reconstituted to bring it in line with the August 2009 amendments to State education law. Now, CCSE members must include parents or guardians of all students with individualized education programs (IEPs), not just parents of District 75 students. The CCELL is a new council established under the August law. Candidates must be parents of students in programs for English Language Learners.

All around the city, schools are embracing and thriving on green. Some are learning about climate change from teacher resources like Earth Day NY or Facing the Future. Others are building green roofs, using watt meters and composting food scraps.

The Green Gremlins of Grace Church school pairs middle school students with elementary schoolers to run green activities, which range from making used Christmas cards into valentines for people in a hospital, to recycling keys and used gift cards, or raising money for Haiti by selling old electronic games.

Seeds in the Middle, currently piloting at PS 91 in Brooklyn, teaches students how to grow, market, find and cook healthy food.

PS 333, the Manhattan School for Children, expects to break ground for a pilot greenhouse on the roof, this summer. When finished it will teach kids about environmental sustainability, food, and nutrition. (more…)

Long-awaited “main round” high school acceptance letters to 8th graders MAY be delayed, according to a report in today’s Daily News.

The letters with high school matches, due to be delivered to students on March 24, are being held up by court order because of a lawsuit against the Department of Education by the NAACP and the teachers union. The lawsuit charges that the DOE acted illegally in moving to close 19 schools.

According to the Daily News, “Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis ruled Tuesday to temporarily ban the city from making the matches, since their process isn’t factoring in the closing schools and isn’t matching kids with them. ”

The court is encouraging both sides to work together to resolve the issue and the DOE is allowed to go ahead and prepare to send out letters — just not send them - yet.

For thousands of anxious 8th-graders and their parents, a longer wait to receive confirmation of where they will be attending school next year means more nail-biting.

Are you among the 86,000 or so families awaiting acceptance letters? How do you feel about the delay?

New York City’s graduation rates are on the rise, Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg announced today.  The State Education Department released the latest graduation data revealing that New York City’s four-year graduation rate, counting only June graduates, climbed to 59& in 2009, up from 56.4% in 2008 and 46.5 % in 2005. Taking into account August graduations, something the city has done for years and the state started doing with the 2009 grads, the city’s four-year rate hit 62.7 %. The statewide graduation rate was 72% in 2009.

We’re still wading through all the data, but here are some of the highlights posted on the Department of Education’s website. Graduation rates rose for all all ethnic groups — white, black, Latino, and Asian students. Latino students crossed the 50% threshold for the first time with 52% graduating in June 2009; 56% counting August grads. English language learners made steady gains with 39.7% graduating in four years (June grads only) up from 35.8% in 2008 and 25. 1% in 2007.

Notably, fewer than half (44.6%) of all students graduating in 2009 earned a Regents Diploma, which will become the standard for all graduates starting with the class of 2012.

The city is still producing dismal results for special education students, with only  a quarter graduating on time in 2009.

For those unfazed by lots of numbers, columns, and charts, check out the latest graduation rate data and a webcast of NYSED’s news conference held Tuesday afternoon.

Share your comments below.

The 1,082 page, 20-year-old world history textbook sits on a desk next to the 1,114 page biology book. They weigh in at a good five pounds each. There’s no more room for them in the already overloaded backpack, stuffed with an equally weighty Spanish textbook, lunch (quite possibly including some of the old and uneaten variety), a mess of pens, notebooks, binders, power bars, and gym clothing. The thing totaled close to 30 pounds at a recent weigh-in.The insanity of hauling heavy backpacks around in a city where kids have long commutes and lots of stairways is well known. The question I’m posing, though, goes beyond the backpack issue. I’m puzzled about why so many schools are still making use of these old textbooks.

A recent Scholastic survey commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and released last week found few teachers believe traditional textbooks can engage today’s digital natives and prepare them for success. Teachers say they prefer digital and non-digital resources like magazines and books other than textbooks.

Only 12 percent of some 40,000 teachers surveyed said textbooks help students achieve, while only 6 percent said textbooks engage their students in learning. Eliminating textbooks (a $7 billion market in the U.S.) is also cost effective in these cash-strapped times; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California proposed cutting the budget deficit by replacing “outdated” textbooks with electronic versions.

But what is replacing textbooks? I noticed that one city high school is running a workshop on how to use YouTube in the classroom, along with instructions on an animated tool called Prezi. Some schools are moving toward digital textbooks, known as FlexBooks, which can be downloaded, projected, and printed. (more…)

The process of applying to kindergarten has changed over the years.  For some, it’s simple: go to your zoned school, bring the paperwork proving your child’s age and place of residence, fill out some forms, and you’re basically done. You’ll be able to register without a problem in April.

For others, the process is fraught with worry.Parents who are applying to additional programs — charter schools, G&T programs, private or parochial schools — may register at their child’s zoned school with trepidation, hoping for a better option.

Some zoned schools are so popular that they may not have enough seats for all zoned kindergartners.

For those who have children who will turn five in 2010, how are you feeling about the kindergarten process thus far? For those whose children are now in kindergarten, how did it work out for you?

Please take our poll at the left and share your comments below.

Last week, as we marked the 100th day of the school year, we asked for a “gut check” on how your school is doing. More than half of you — 57 percent were feeling pretty good, and either had no complaints or were mostly pleased. Nineteen percent were disappointed, and 22 percent said you were angry, and that your school needed major changes.

In the comments, some praised their schools, while others had complaints. Our school reviews capture the environment inside New York City schools, and your comments help us paint these pictures. It’s so helpful when you share comments — both positive and negative — about your schools.

Have you posted a comment on your school’s profile page yet? Let us know what’s good or bad by posting one now!

This week New Yorkers gathered in each borough to protest MTA layoffs, budget cuts, and the cancellation of student MetroCards. The Insideschools staff was wrapping up its workday Thursday when chants of protest poured in through our 7th-story window. I grabbed my camera and bolted down the stairs.

After hopping a steel barricade and weaving through a crowd of police officers, I joined the thousands marching from a rally at Gov. Paterson’s office to the Fashion Institute of Technology — where MTA held a public hearing on the MetroCard cuts. Students waved picket signs and led chants. “Hands off our MetroCards,” rang down the canyon of mid-rise buildings lining 7th Avenue.

We were greeted at FIT by a three-story inflatable rat, installed by protesters. The crowd was corralled by another set of steel barricades. I hopped another fence and turned down 27th Street to find another crowd of students still standing outside the entrance to the hearing. “Let us in,” a small group of high schoolers chanted. The police informed me that the room was full and that “no one else is getting in.”

I attempted to blend in with the fashionable crowd on campus to find a back door, but my meager style sense didn’t cut it with campus security. Luckily, Gabriel Resto-Montero of DNAinfo made it in and provided a great report. The MTA board is expected to vote on the cuts on March 24.

Labor unions organized speakers at the corner of 7th Avenue and 29th Street.

Got time for a protest today? Join The Alliance for Quality Education, and other other community and education groups, at one of 18 protests against statewide education budget cuts. There’s at least one protest in every borough, starting at 12:30 p.m.

Below is the press release from AQE with the details:

What: Parents, students, educators and community members will hold 18 press conferences, town hall meetings and protests across New York State on Thursday, March 4, to oppose Governor Paterson’s proposed $1.4 billion cut to state education funding. In New York City, nine events will be held throughout the day to oppose the governor’s proposal to cut $466 million in state school aid. Events will take place in all five boroughs.

Who: Alliance For Quality Education, Campaign For Fiscal Equity, NYC Coalition For Educational Justice, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, Education Voters Of NY, Make The Road NY, NY Communities for Change, United Federation Of Teachers and more.

When: All events will take place on Thursday, March 4^th. See exact details below.

Visuals: Parents, teachers, elected officials.

Where: Various events across the city (listed below)

MANHATTAN

Murry Bergtraum High School Press Conference, 411 Pearl Street; 12:30pm

Speakers at Murry Bergtraum High School Press Conference:

• Zakiyah Ansari, Alliance for Quality Education/ NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
• Michael Mulgrew, United Federation of Teachers, President
• Geri Palast, Campaign For Fiscal Equity, Executive Director
• John Elfrant, Murry Bergtraum High School, Chapter Leader
• Ernest Logan, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, President
• Glynda Carr, Education Voters of NY, Executive Director

Additional Events occurring in all five boroughs are listed below:

MANHATTAN

MS 54 Booker T. Washington School Press Conference, 103 West 107th Street, 3pm

BRONX

PS 11 Town Hall Meeting, 1257 Ogden Avenue; 5:30pm-8pm

BROOKLYN

IS 318 Eugenio Maria De Hostos Press Conference 101 Walton Street 3pm

PS 13 Roberto Clemente Press Conference, 557 Pennsylvania Ave. 12noon

IS 171 Abraham Lincoln Town Hall Meeting, 528 Ridgewood Ave. 6pm-8pm

QUEENS

IS 125 Thomas J McCann Press Conference, 46-02 47th Ave, Woodside, 3pm

Make the Road Press Conference, 92-10 Roosevelt Avenue, Elmhurst, 11am

STATEN ISLAND

PS 45R Press Conference, 58 Lawrence Ave., 2:30pm

According to the Department of Education’s 2010-2011 school calendar,  students will attend only one day of classes during the first week of school. Talk about a false start!

Classes  will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 8 — two days after Labor Day — but students will have Thursday and Friday off for the Rosh Hashanah holiday! (Makes you  wonder how many families will skip the first week and send their children in the following Monday…)

Teachers and staff are due back on Tuesday, Sept. 7, assistant principals and supervisors on Aug. 30. The last day of the school year is Tuesday, June 28.

Check the calendar for other holidays and days off; the testing calendar hasn’t been posted yet.

The Department of Education is launching elections for a new citywide council composed of parents of students who are learning to speak English — known in DOE parlance as “English language learners” or ELLs. This is in addition to the already existent citywide council for special education parents, citywide council for high school parents, and community education councils in the 32 school districts.

Parents may nominate themselves for election at www.powertotheparents.org (deadline March 12). From April 12- 26, borough-wide forums will introduce the candidates. Parents of kids in ESL or bilingual education will be able to weigh in on an “advisory” vote between April 26-30. The official selectors - elected PA and PTA representatives - will vote May 11-12. All voting is online; results will be announced on May 31.

The establishment of a Citywide Education Council for English Language Learners is required by amendments to the state education law passed in August 2009. Advocates for Children has expressed concerns about voter eligibility, barriers for parents without online access, and council member training.

Parent participation is another concern. In June 2009, we reported that only 1,190 PTA officers out of an estimated 4,500 potential voters cast ballots in the Community Education Council elections. [CEC elections take place every two years. The next election is slated for May 2011.] A New York City PTA president commented that she did not vote because there were fewer candidates than seats. “Everyone was a shoe-in,” she wrote.

A new selection is also taking place in May to bring the Citywide Council on Special Education in line with the amended law. Now, CCSE members must include parents or guardians of all students with individualized education programs (IEPs), not just parents of District 75 students.

Parents or guardians who need paper applications, should contact the Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy at 212-374-4118 or e-mail ofea@schools.nyc.gov.

We’d like to know: Do you attend your district or citywide CEC meetings? If so, do parents actively participate? What can the city do to improve parent participation from ELL families?

New York City students can now anonymously report threats or acts of violence at their schools by calling 866-SPEAK-UP.

The toll-free hotline is operated by gun violence prevention group PAX, whose national service has received more than 35,000 calls since it was founded in 2002. City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn led the charge to promote 866-SPEAK-UP in New York City — with help from the Department of Education and the NYPD — in hopes of curtailing the popular “stop snitching” message among students.

“School should be a safe haven for students,” said Speaker Quinn in a press release. “Too many of our children fear retaliation if they report a violent incident that is about to happen and unfortunately authorities find out when it’s too late and innocent lives are affected. This program will empower students to take school safety into their own hands.”

A small number of New York City schools will participate in a pilot program to promote the hotline in their building. If you’d like to promote the service in your school, more information is available on the PAX website.

Gotham Gazette this week features a detailed look at bullying in NYC schools, concluding that data remains scarce as to whether the Chancellor’s Regulation designed to curb bullying has been effective.  The article came out in anticipation of Respect for All week, slated for March 8-12;

Is bullying or violence a problem at your school? Do you think this national hotline will be effective in curtailing it? And, is your school planning any “Respect for All” activities? Let us know in your comments below.

Project Cicero launched its tenth annual book drive to help stock under-resourced public schools, community centers, and homeless shelters throughout the city. According to its website, over the past nine years Project Cicero has placed 1.3 million books in 7500 classrooms and libraries, reaching 300,000 students.

Through March 4, 2010, participating public, independent, and parochial schools will be collecting new and gently-used children’s and young adult books. For information on how to organize a book drive or to donate new books from Project Cicero’s Wish List on Amazon.com check out their website or email info@projectcicero.org.

Two Brooklyn parents are joining forces with Advocates for Children (AFC) to challenge the extension of PAVE Academy Charter School’s colocation with PS 15.

Despite public protest, the Panel for Educational Policy approved the extension during its January 26 meeting. In response, AFC filed a petition and request for stay — on behalf of PS 15 parents John Battis and Lydia Bellahcene — asking State Education Commissioner David Steiner to repeal the 8-4 decision. The petition argues that the Department of Education failed to properly assess the impact of PAVE’s colocation on PS 15, or provide an adequate period for public comment.

“The law requires a public process in which the DOE identifies the impact of their proposal on parents, students and the community, and allows for public comment,” stated Battis in a press release issued by AFC. “The DOE must comply with the law.” (more…)

The NY Post reports that 3,000 parents attended the third annual Harlem Education Fair, held Feb. 28 at the 369th Harlem Armory on 143rd Street. That’s far short of the 10,000 parents event organizers  predicted would turn out to  learn about dozens of  charter, parochial, private, and public schools in the area, or last year’s throng, estimated at 5,000.

The snow may have deterred some, but the parents who slogged through the slush, often with children in tow, were determined to explore all their school options. Many questioned the assertion by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Archdiocese Schools Superintendent Tim McNiff, proclaiming  Harlem the “Parent Choice Capital of America.”

Parents we spoke with understood that the chances of actually getting your child into the school of your choice — particularly some of the more popular charter schools, which assign seats by lottery — are discouragingly slim.  One parent, who said her child is not being challenged at her neighborhood public school, PS 160, planned to apply to every charter school in order “to get my child the education she needs at the price I can afford.”

PS 241, an unzoned school that was one of a handful of public schools participating, got a lot of attention from a handwritten sign on its table saying “ALL are Welcome - NO LOTTERIES!”  A teacher at the school, which shares its building with two charter schools and earned an “A” on its school report card last year after nearly being closed, pointed proudly at colorful new promotional postcards.

The fair was  sponsored by the Success Charter Network, which operates a string of charter schools in Harlem and East Harlem and whose CEO is Eva Moskowitz, former chairperson of the City Council’s education committee. The fair took place  in the midst of the kindergarten registration season — public school kindergarten applications are due by March 12.  Most charter school applications are due by April 1.

We’d like to hear from parents who were at the fair and from those who live in the community. Is Harlem the “parent choice capital of America?”

It’s time for a new crop of  4-year-olds to begin applying to pre-kindergarten! The admissions process  for the 2010/2011 school year begins Monday, March 1 with  applications due by April 9.  All children who turn four  in 2010 are eligible for public pre-K, although they are not guaranteed a seat. Programs are housed in public schools or at  community-based organizations and the application process differs slightly depending on where a program is housed.

Public schools

There are two ways to apply for pre-K programs housed in public schools: by mail or online. To apply by mail, you must acquire a paper application and reply-envelope from this year’s pre-K directory. The directory will be available at all borough enrollment offices on Tuesday, March 2 and all elementary schools by March 8.  According to the DOE, the online application will be posted on the NYC Department of Education’s website on March 1.You may apply for a number of schools in one submission and rank those schools by order of preference.

Students with siblings who attend a school receive first priority; of those, families who live in the school zone receive first dibs in most cases. (There are a few places where this is not the case, such as Manhattan’s District 1 which has few zoned schools.)  Students without sibling preference are also ranked according to whether or not they live in the zone, or district. Admissions priorities are detailed  on the DOE’s pre-K information website.

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)Applications for pre-K programs housed by CBOs are not handled by the DOE, although they are listed in the directory.   You must apply for each CBO program separately and deliver that application to the program’s site (no mail or online submissions) . The CBO will then contact you directly to let you know whether your child receives a spot.Applications are available at all CBOs now. They will also be available online — for printing — through the DOE’s website starting March 1. (more…)

It’s time again to bring out the sleds! At 6:15 this morning, after a night of snowfall, the Department of Education announced that all city public schools would be closed today. According to the announcement, “all after-school activities and PSAL events will also be cancelled. Administrative offices will remain open.”

Good luck to all parents who are faced with an unanticipated school  day with children at home! Let us know how your coping with childcare.

Parent-teacher conferences scheduled to take place today [Thursday, Feb. 25] at New York City intermediate and junior high schools will be rescheduled due to poor weather conditions, reports the NYC Department of Education in a press release.

“While we continue to monitor the weather, all indications are that schools will be open tomorrow. If conditions become worse than expected and schools do have to be closed, we will inform parents immediately,” states the release. After-school and PSAL programs will proceed as scheduled.”

The Panel for Educational Policy approved 13 charter school colocation proposals at its monthly meeting, held Wednesday night at the Fashion Industries High School in Chelsea.

New York City families packed the school’s 1,300-seat auditorium, according to NY1.   Charter school parents and students testified that their schools required more space to support growing populations, while public school families voiced frustration with the loss of valuable resources, such as science labs and libraries, to already-existing space constraints.

“I can understand why any school moving in would like more space, that makes sense,” said schools Chancellor Joel Klein at the hearing. “But what’s particularly interesting tonight Mr. Chairman is that all of a sudden, when charter schools are involved in sharing space there’s been a big political push back and we should see it for what it is,” Klein said.

Last month, the PEP voted to close 19 public schools before a packed auditorium of public school advocates at Brooklyn Tech High School. Some commentors accused the panel of pitting families against each other by placing charter schools in public schools.  Klein openly refuted this claim.

At last night’s meeting, Robert Jackson, chair of the City Council Education Committee, revived this accusation, citing that the disproportionate number of charter advocates in the evening’s crowd did not represent public opinion — many charter parents were bused to the event and provided dinner for attending, reports the Daily News.

How can public and charter schools share space efficiently and coexist? Share your thoughts!

In a surprising change of course, the Department of Education announced that it will cancel plans to move a charter school into a Bronx vocational high  school. The DOE’s decision comes after meetings with representatives from the construction industry, reports the The New York Times.

The New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries was slated to replace some vocational programs at the Bronx’s Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School. The school’s building programs are on the chopping block due to low graduation rates.

The DOE will now work with construction industry representatives to develop a new school in the building. Smith’s principal René Cassanova told the Times that, while she hasn’t spoken to the DOE regarding the plan, she is pleased: “What we want is our industry partners at the table and the programs at Smith.”

AECI plans to rent private space for the 2010/2011 school year to house its growing student population. Controversy has plagued the school since founder Richard Izquierdo Arroyo was indicted on charges of embezzlement last summer.

For more information, see articles from the Daily News and The New York Times  online.

In our last poll, we asked how you feel about your school’s lunches. Fifty-eight percent of you said your school does NOT serve healthy lunches. Twenty-three percent said the food is healthy. Seventeen percent of you pack your own lunches, and said you’re not sure.

In the comments, more than a few students and parents characterized their cafeteria food as “disgusting,” “nasty,” or “gross” — regardless of its purported nutritional value. “My school serves partially healthy lunch, but the food is disgusting,” wrote a student. “Frozen foods are often given, and taste horrible. Watery, tasteless veggies, tacos, dry chicken nuggets, it’s really bad..”

But a parent at PS 84 tells us that due to a partnership with Wellness in the Schools and the efforts of the school’s wellness committee, their kids have a hot vegetarian entree option and salad bar every day — though the the high fructose corn syrup in the chocolate milk remains a subject of debate.

If you could change the menu at your school’s cafeteria, what would you serve?

A few weeks back, Insideschools attended the yearly New High Schools Fair. We were lucky enough to speak with faculty and staff from each  school about their hopes and plans for the 2010/2011 school year.

We’ve condensed all of this information into fact-packed profiles that will help you determine whether one of these new schools is right for your child:

• In Brooklyn: Academy For Health Careers.
• In the Bronx: Bronx Bridges High School.
• In Manhattan: Renaissance Charter High School For Innovation,  Frank Mccourt High School,  Hudson High School Of Learning Technologies, Murray Hill Academy, Manhattan Academy Of Arts & Language,  and International High School At Union Square.
• In Queens:  High School For Community Leadership, Queens Metropolitan High School, Cambria Heights Academy, and Hillside Arts & Letters Academy.

Three new transfer schools will open in September as well. You can find information on those schools in the Department of Education’s New High Schools Directory.  As we reported last week, the due date for high school applications has been extended to Thursday, Feb. 25.

Good luck!

There are many reasons why high school choice in New York City is so fraught and frightening for parents. In a city where parenting can resemble a competitive sport, important questions abound. But as our children age, we learn that these questions are only the beginning.

Concerns from parents who must decide on a specialized high school or other placement for their child have dominated conversation on Insideschools and in countless households. Class size, academic quality, commute time, and advanced placement offerings are all being weighed, along with the role of sports and arts.

Other pressing questions are close behind, because the inevitable and lifelong separation process is dramatically stepped up when your child enters high school. For example, what happens four years later? What percent of students graduate on time (in a city where half don’t) and how well prepared will graduates be for college? What is the quality of college counseling in city high schools, and how do college admissions officers regard graduates of say, Bronx Science vs. Eleanor Roosevelt?  Just how much should college concerns weigh upon what happens after 8th grade?

Those who have survived the intensity of New York City school admissions all the way to high school may feel like grizzled veterans when it comes time to pick a college. Still, it’s a shock to the system to consider our unformed adolescents as young adults who will, if all goes well, be out the door and making their own decisions before long.

Assumptions we make while dragging our 12 and 13-year-olds on school tours may be struck down as their interests and abilities change. I’ve always found one of the oddest and most difficult parts of school choice in New York City, starting with pre-kindergarten, can be making choices based on what I imagine my child will be like a full year later. (more…)

City Limits devotes its entire March issue to Harlem Children’s Zone, featuring a comprehensive report by Helen Zelon, long-time contributor to Insideschools.org. The lead article, “Is the Promise Real,” chronicles the history and status of the initiative, developed by charismatic leader Geoffrey Canada, to envelop whole neighborhoods with social services from cradle to college.

The HCZ now includes the Baby College, starting with pre-natal services, pre-school (Harlem Gems), three Promise Academy charter schools covering elementary through high school, and more than a dozen family and employment support organizations. It has caught attention and praise from philanthropists and politicians, including President Obama, who see it as a template for the nation’s troubled school children. A substantial sum of federal funds will go to 20 school districts to replicate the initiative.

The report offers an analysis of the schools’ practices and early results and describes the difficulty of measuring social service impact. It also examines the potential for replication in cities less saturated with social services and patrons than New York.

Check out the Q&A with founder Geoffrey Canada, and a video of interviews with Harlem residents online at City Limits. To read the full report, you’ll have to buy the journal at a newstand or subscribe..

This week’s snowstorm forced the postponement of open houses at specialized and new high schools. Because of the delays, the Department of Education is giving 8th graders and their families a few more days to make up their minds about whether to apply to new high schools, or, for those lucky enough to have a choice after the first round of high school acceptances, which school to accept!

The due date has been changed from Tuesday, Feb. 23 to Thursday, Feb. 25. From the comments on InsideSCOOP and our forum, some families are having a tough time making a decision. If you’ve got experience to share about the schools, please chime in.

And, see the Department of Education’s website for a rundown of all weather-related schedule changes, including the new open house dates for specialized high schools, and hearings about hotly-contested school utilization plans.

Hot on the heels of the (partial) reinstatement of PTA bake sales, a new brochure was circulated today by the Office of Family Engagement at the Department of Education called “Yes, You Can: A Fresh Look at Healthy Fundraisers for Schools.”

This attractive guide, produced by the East Harlem District Public Health Office and the Strategic Alliance for Health, a program of the Centers for Disease Control, aims to counter fundraisers that “involve selling foods high in fat, sugar, salt, and calories.”

One section I like is called “Combining Fitness and Fun.” This describes how parents or schools can design “Do-It-Yourself Fitness-A-Thon” fundraisers. Some organizations that can help set up fitness fundraisers are the New York Road Runner Foundation or Fitness Fundraising. (more…)

Meredith Kolodner of the Daily News has been following the story of Rosa Bracero, a newly homeless senior in high school, who was unable to take the state-mandated English Regents exam in January because her presence was required at a homeless intake center for a seven hour meeting. She took the exam at her high school the following day but the state education department refused to score the exam. The English Regents was the only missing piece for Rosa who hoped to graduate in January and attend the Lincoln Technical Institute during the second semester.

After an uproar by advocates for the homeless and others, the New York City Department of Homeless Services announced they had changed the policy. “The Department of Homeless Services is revamping our policy so that once a family presents at the intake center, a student may be excused from the shelter application process for important exams that do not offer make-up sessions, like Regents or some college preparatory exams, while their family continues to be processed. The incident of a student missing the Regents Exam was unfortunate and unusual, but these steps will ensure that no child faces a similar situation again.” (more…)

Wondering what to do today with your kids who are out of school?

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreations has some suggestions for every borough.

Check them out at this link.

And let us know how the day is going. Comment below.

All New York City public schools will be closed Wednesday, Feb. 10 due to “anticipated inclement weather,” states a  press release from Chancellor Joel Klein issued today. After-school activities and PSAL events are also called off.

The announcement  comes alongside a  “Winter Storm Warning” issued by the  National Weather Service that calls for “significant snowfall tonight into Wednesday night.” The warning will remain intact through Thursday evening. Schools will be open Thursday, pending further announcements from the Department of Education.

“We are making this decision today to give parents as much time as possible to make alternative plans for tomorrow,” states the release.

View the DOE’s press release here.

The Department of Education announced that open houses scheduled for this Wednesday, Feb. 10 for students accepted at specialized high schools, will be postponed until Feb. 22 because of predicted “inclement weather”. The forecast calls for ice and snow on Wednesday.

Students must turn in their acceptances by Feb. 23 — the day after the rescheduled  open houses at several of the specialized high schools; no word that the acceptance date will be postponed.

The affected schools are:

• The Brooklyn Latin School - 325 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn: 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
• Brooklyn Technical High School - 29 Fort Greene Place, Brooklyn: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
• Staten Island Technical High School - 485 Clawson Street, Staten Island: Session I (for students with last names A-L): 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
• Staten Island Technical High School - 485 Clawson Street, Staten Island: Session II (for students with last names M-Z): 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
• Stuyvesant High School - 345 Chambers Street, Manhattan: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Open houses scheduled for other specialized schools on Tuesday and Thursday will proceed as scheduled!

Many other new high schools are holding open houses this week. Check the new schools directory and call or email the school directly to find out when.

See the DOE’s press release for details about the snow delay for Wednesday’s open houses.

New York City is such a peculiarly competitive place to live that even toddlers may receive rejection letters from pre-schools, so you think they might be prepared when it comes time for choosing a high school.

At the tender age of three or four, however, they have some insulation, as it’s hard to imagine telling a potential nursery schooler: “Sorry, you didn’t get in. They weren’t impressed by your sandbox play.”

There’s not much parents can do to cushion the blow of first round rejection for city high schools, though. It can be a pretty raw time. And the stakes are ever so much greater because the supply of excellent high schools does not meet the demand. (more…)

Eighth-graders (and some 9th-graders) across the city learned this week whether they were offered seats at the city’s specialized high schools, including the eight schools for which students take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, and LaGuardia High School which requires auditions and a review of a student’s academic record. Nearly 6000 8th-graders — 5,898 — received an offer. (No word yet on how many 9th-graders got offers.) Close to 2000 9th graders — 1,964 –took the exam and 174 received an offer.

Of 27,000 applicants citywide for the exam schools, 5,261 were offered seats. Last year 5,246 got offers. At LaGuardia 1,000 kids got one or more offers as applicants often do multiple auditions. Of those 1,000 students, 363 also got accepted by one of the exam schools. Thirty 9th-graders received 36 offers to programs in LaGuardia. Of those, two students who received an offer to LaGuardia also received an offer to a specialized testing school.

Students who made the cut also learned about their high school placements to non-specialized high schools. But, the vast majority of students who participated in the specialized high school process — nearly 21,000 — will have to wait for March 24th, when all applicants will receive their results.

Students with offers in hand have until Feb. 23 to decide which one to accept. Feb. 23 is also the deadline for students to submit a new application to apply to one of the 16 new high schools opening next fall. Families may learn about more about those at a fair this weekend.

Watch The InsideSCOOP for updates on the high school admissions process; we’ll add information as we get it. Let us know how things unfolded at your school. Share your information in comments below.

UPDATE: The lowest score for which an offer was made was 470 for the eighth grade and 480 for the ninth grade.

The Daily News recently surveyed school lunchrooms to see if the “health-crazed Bloomberg administration,” which “often touts how it has overhauled school lunches and slashed calories,” has succeeded in making standard cafeteria fare healthier. According to some nutritionists, some of the “healthy” offerings may not cut the mustard.

The News reports that a simple toasted cheese sandwich on oat bread — frozen and then heated in its plastic wrapper — contained more than 30 ingredients, including high-fructose corn syrup, which the administration had vowed to cut out. “It just looks so greasy, you can tell it’s unhealthy,” observed a student at Clara Barton High School.

In our new poll, we ask: what’s for lunch at your school, and how do you feel about it? Is it junk food or is it getting better? And whether kids get school lunch or packed lunch, what do they actually eat?

Take our poll and share you thoughts below.

In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the closing of 19 city schools. It turns out that a strong majority — 61% — feel that schools should be fixed rather than shut. Another 11% felt that some deserve to be closed, but others do not. Just 16% said all 19  schools are bad and should be shut down.

Our poll results  stand in contrast to assertions by education officials and others that those who oppose the closings are just a noisy minority. An editorial in the Daily News said most of the closing opponents who attended the hearings of the Panel for Educational Policy were bused in by the teacher’s union.  It suggested that the “best measure of what mothers and fathers feel about particular schools is how many of them hope to enroll their children,” concluding that because relatively few parents ranked the schools now slated for closure as their first choice on high school applications, they “have no such backing because parents want far better.”

All parents want better schools.  In fact, many people visit Insideschools.org because they are actively seeking out good schools. And,  a clear majority of those who voted say troubled schools should be fixed not shut. What does that tell you?  Please share your thoughts below.

On February 4, ARISE , a coalition of individuals and 24 organizations of which AFC is a member, issued a statement charging that the Department of Education’s plan to reform special education does not go far enough.

The DOE revealed its Implementation Plan for the Reform of Special Education: A Two-Year Phase-in Process Focusing on the Advancement of Student Learning and Achievement in a meeting with advocates earlier this week. While ARISE praised the plan ” to the extent that the DOE’s guiding principles indicate the removal of roadblocks to quality supports and services for youth with disabilities,” it also said that “the DOE’s plan is short on both detail and accountability.”

The DOE’s plan states that “every school should educate and embrace the overwhelmingly majority of students with disabilities,’ but that a “cohort of students….with highly specialized needs will continue to be clustered in specialized instructional programs.” The DOE confirmed that District 75 will continue to serve those students.

According to Maggie Moroff, coordinator of the ARISE coalition, the plan falls short in two ways. First, while encouraging and supporting principals to institute recommended changes in special education, there is no mandate to hold them, or officials in the department, accountable for doing so. Second, although the DOE’s plan calls for the development of new programs, “it has done remarkably little to marshal the work [already] done in New York City schools and in academia.” Incorporation of existing successful programs could speed up implementation, she noted. Click here for the ARISE statement.

As I sat furiously answering emails from high school students around the city last night, on the phone with a student from Queens I’d never met, and trying to keep up with constant facebook notifications from strangers, I told my mother I thought the MTA’s proposal to cut student MetroCards was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t really mean it, of course, but it is clear to anyone working on this issue that the students of this city are uniting and mobilizing to make their voices heard.

There have been student organized rallies and protests, petition drives and press conferences. And the next phase begins this week: a MetroCard drive, organized by the NYC Student Union.

At the end of this week, first semester student MetroCards will expire. Student representatives from schools around the city will be collecting their classmate’s MetroCards, asking them to write a brief message on their card before handing it in. The message should be about how the MetroCard cut will affect them, or anything they want to say about the MTA’s plan. (more…)

The Department of Education is rolling out plans to open new schools next fall across the city. The DOE announced Tuesday that it will add six schools to the list of Brooklyn schools already slated to open for the 2010/2011 school year. These elementary and middle schools will be located in Districts 17, 20, and 23. Each school will open with early grades and phase-in higher grades over time.

The DOE hopes that these  schools will alleviate growing pressures of overcrowding in these districts. Four of the proposed schools will be in District 20, where elementary school seats are especially in short supply.

For more information on these, and other,  school openings, visit the DOE’s fact sheets for each district. If you have questions concerning new schools, you can contact the Office of Public Affairs at 212-374-2437 or OPA@schools.nyc.gov.

Sixteen new high schools set to open next September are profiled in the Directory of the New High Schools, now available on the Department of Education’s website. Representatives from many of the schools will be at this weekend’s fair for 8th grade students who are still looking for a high school for next fall.

Of the schools seeking to attract incoming 9th graders, two are in the Bronx, one is in Brooklyn, five are in Manhattan, and another five are in Queens. Some will share buildings with schools whose closure has just been announced, such as Norman Thomas,  Beach Channel, and Jamaica. Most have themes.

There are three transfer schools opening, one each for the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. These are aimed at older students who are behind in their credits and who have been unsuccessful in their previous high schools.

Stay tuned….we’ll have more information after the new school fair. Prospective parents and students, please share your thoughts!

The Upper East Side will be getting a new elementary school next fall to help alleviate overcrowding which caused long wait lists for kindergarten last year in the neighborhood’s schools. The Department of Education plans to open PS 267 in the PS 158 building, occupying space which now houses the East Side Middle School. East Side Middle will move to its new building in September 2010.

The decision follows a unanimous vote by District 2’s Community Education Council to open a new school and will be voted on by the Panel for Educational Policy in its March meeting

In an email sent Tuesday night to state and local representatives, Andy Lachman of the grassroots organization, Parent Leaders of Upper East Side School, announced the DOE decision and thanked officials for helping “put a serious dent in UES overcrowding.” (more…)

This weekend, the Department of Education is hosting a fair for new high schools at Emigrant Savings Bank, across the street from DOE headquarters at 51 Chambers Street. No word yet about how many new schools, which will accept 9th-graders next fall, will be present at the fair, set to take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Officials say a handbook listing the new schools will be posted online and will be available at the fair.

Although high school applications were submitted in early December, 8th graders can request a new school application from their guidance counselor if they wish to change their application to apply to a new school for Fall 2010.

The first round of high school admissions results comes out this week, two days before the weekend fair. On Feb. 4, 8th and 9th-graders who applied for one of the city’s nine specialized high schools will learn whether they have been admitted to a specialized school.

Middle and high school guidance counselors will be distributing the results on Thursday, although some schools will mail them in an effort to forestall the upset that frequently accompanies the distribution of the acceptances. Students who are accepted at a specialized school will also find out whether they were matched to another school on their list. If not they will have to wait until the main round results are distributed on March 23. The timeline for high school admissions is posted on the DOE’s website. (more…)

Is your child turning five this year? Today, Feb. 1 is the first day to submit a kindergarten application.

Families may apply to multiple schools by going directly to the school with proof of address and date of birth, and filling out an application.You don’t need to bring your child.  Kindergarten admissions is a school-based process so the application may vary by school, with some schools using a  kindergarten application template provided by the Department of Education. This round of applications will last until March 12.

According to New York State law, kindergarten is not mandatory (although it is strongly encouraged!) but every child who applies is guaranteed a place. Priority in admissions is given to students who are zoned for the school, and to unzoned students who have a sibling enrolled in the school. For a rundown of admissions’ priorities, see the Department of Education’s page on elementary school admissions. (more…)

In a 6-4 decision, the District 2 Community Education Council approved the Department of Education’s “Option 2″ proposal for temporarily rezoning Lower Manhattan’s school boundaries.

Under the plan, Tribeca students living west of Church Street. will be zoned for the highly-regarded, but becoming-over-crowded, PS 234. PS 89, originally the zoned school for Battery Park City students, will now be zoned for students living north of Battery Park City and Gateway Plaza.

The decision also defined the zoning boundaries for Lower Manhattan’s two new public schools — PS/IS 397 Spruce Street School and PS/IS 276 — which the rapidly-growing community hopes will alleviate overcrowding while maintaining the strong reputation of its current schools. (more…)

“Closing a school is worse than a root canal,” Chancellor Klein recently told the New Yorker. “You’re disrupting people’s lives.” Nevertheless, the Panel for Educational Policy voted Tuesday to close 19 ” failing” schools. This, despite major outcry from parents, students, and teachers.

Advocates for Children — the parent of Insideschools.org — issued a statement prior to the vote warning that many of the closing schools served large numbers of high-needs students, and that while closing failing schools is sometimes necessary, the city ought to consider the effect these closures will have on our most at-risk youth.

What do you think about this latest round of school closings?  Please take our poll at left and share your comments below.

In our most recent poll, we asked how you felt about your school security officers. “Great!” said 35% of respondents.  But 63% had concerns, and of those, 18% felt police officers don’t belong inside our schools.

If you or your child have experienced problems with school safety officers, and would like to communicate with a member of the NYCLU, ACLU, and Dorsey Whitney legal team about the recently filed class-action lawsuit — which alleges that NYPD personnel assigned to New York City’s public schools have repeatedly violated students’ civil rights through wrongful arrests and the excessive use of force — or share a story about policing in our schools, please click here. You can also contact the NYCLU’s Johanna Miller at jmiller@nyclu.org.

Please continue to share your comments below.

A recent poll by Insideschools.org found parents overwhelmingly against the bake sale restrictions imposed by the chancellor. Insideschools’ readers were not alone in their disapproval.

The outcry by parents and kids against the Department of Education’s ban on bake sales seems to have convinced the DOE to amend Chancellor’s Regulation A-812. Under proposed changes, parent organizations would be able to hold one bake sale per month at any time of day, and sell “non-approved” food during that sale. To many, that means cupcakes. Sales are not allowed in the cafeteria.

For students, looking for revenue to support their clubs and teams, the regulation relaxes the time constraints. Kids could sell approved foods outside the cafeteria at any time of day and for as many days as they wish. Still no cupcakes there, in fact no homemade goodies at all. Students would be limited to selling only those serving-size, packaged snacks that are on an approved list. (more…)

Yesterday I had the privilege of serving on a panel at the new Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, listening to 9^th graders hold a debate. The topic was “Proposed: a new waste transfer station should be built in the South Bronx.”

The two teams represented the South Bronx and the Upper East Side.The students had visited a park right next door to a South Bronx waste transfer station that was very stinky, they said. The field trip had been hosted by Sustainable South Bronx.

The “Upper East Side” team argued against building the site in that neighborhood, noting that many minority and disadvantaged children live in the neighborhood, and 600 of them go to summer camp at Asphalt Green, where health would be threatened if garbage trucks were rumbling in and out all day. (more…)